The Wake Up: Jay Z Honored By GLAAD, Sterling Speaks Out For Black Journalists, Tony Rock Has Words For Mo’Nique

The hip hop legend broke new ground with his song "Smile."

Much Love

Jay Z has received tons of awards over the years, but he has never gotten an award from the LGBTQ community — until now.

The hip hop legend’s album 4:44 had tracks that dealt with infidelity, manhood and his mother’s sexuality. In the song “Smile,” he rapped, “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian / Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian / Had to hide in the closet so she medicate / Society shame and the pain was too much to take / Cried tears of joy when you fell in love / Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her.” The song included an outro from Jay’s mother Gloria Carter, which is who the song is about.

Jay will receive the Special Recognition award at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards, which takes place in Los Angeles this April. Congrats to Jay, especially considering Nipsey Hussle, Waka Flocka and Ja Rulehave been spitting out some vile anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Jay proves hip hop isn’t a hyper-masculine, misogynist and homophobic monolith.

Shining Sterling

If you already loved Sterling K. Brown, your love for him will only grow after you hear his comments about Black journalists.

There has been needed conversation about more diversity in Hollywood, but the journalists who support diversity are often not given access to press rooms, press junkets, or red carpets. If they are allowed in the door, their time is minimal and they are usually the last ones to get time with a celebrity. This dilemma was brought to Sterling’s attention, see below:

Hopefully, Sterling is correct — that his acknowledgement is the beginning of a change. Moreover, let’s hope some of the power players in Black Hollywood will fight for underrepresented journalists of color.

Tony Rock Is Not Here For Mo’Nique

Chris Rock‘s brother Tony Rock is never one to hold back. And when he was asked about Mo’Nique calling for a boycott of Netflix (Mo mentioned that Chris Rock was paid $20 million for a Netflx special and she was offered $500,000), Mr. Rock said exactly what was on his mind. “First of all,” he started. “It’s never a good look, it’s poor etiquette, it’s poor comedy etiquette, it’s poor people’s etiquette to count anybody else’s money.” He also said he didn’t think the $500,000 was because of her race or gender. Watch below.

This is obviously personal for Tony because Mo’nique mentioned Chris. That said, Wanda Sykes, who was just in Amy Schumer‘s movie Snatched, said she had the same experience with Netflix. We should all be encouraged to speak out if there is an unfair wage gap.